The Ordinary Man
Chapter 1, Part 1 Work. Work. Work. That's all there is in the unnatural life of a skullkin. Working, working, and more working. Grab a pickax, and start digging for that Maelstrom Ore, you've got nothing else better to do as a skullkin. Everything that the skullkin of Crux Prime did was fueled by the desire to collect more Maelstrom Ore for powering their machines. The air was cold, and filled with dread. The skullkin did not care. They don't need the air. The skies were darkened by the purple haze of the Maelstrom. The skullkin did not care. It actually made the place more like their home, the Underworld. A human with a large backpack and a Cleaver Blade casually strolled into the Maelstrom Quarry. The skullkin did n- Wait... "HUMAN!" screamed Nuckal, the skullkin General. "ANNIHILATE THAT FOOL!" The man that had walked into the skullkin's new home did not budge. He simply took off his backpack, put away his enormous blade, and grabbed a pickax. Upon further examination, the skeletons found that the man was wearing a skull mask under his alarmingly familiar fedora. I say familiar because one of the Skullkin thought he had seen the same hat in a movie once, a movie about an explorer. But that was back when the skeleton was still alive. His memories do not matter at this point. The human in the skull mask began to dig into a rock face, just like what the skullkin were doing earlier. He worked as if this was what he had been doing his entire life. All of the skeleton miners were completely dumbfounded! Was this human really stupid enough to play a practical joke on one of the largest undead armies in the known Universe? They soon found that this was no joke. This man was actually HELPING the skullkin in their mining efforts! However, being human, the mysterious man got tired after working for too long. He tipped his hat to Nuckal, waved goodbye to the army, and began to walk away. As suddenly as he had appeared, he was gone. All of the skeletons were still completely confused. Chapter 1, Part 2 Chapter 1, Part 2 Back to work. The mysterious man appeared at the Maelstrom Quarry again. He mined, and mined, and mined. Every day, he appeared, wearing his eerie, always-grinning skull mask. Weeks passed. He was still going to the Quarry. At this point the Skullkin were frightened- no, completely terrified. The man never spoke to anyone, not even the Nexus Force agents that would attempt to infiltrate the Quarry. In fact, the mysterious man actually attacked the other humans! He was completely ruthless in battle. Not once was he smashed by a human or an angry skullkin. But when he wasn't proving his power in combat, he always worked. It was as if fighting and mining were the only things he could even do. Nuckal didn't know what to do. This was a very unusual case. Why would a human ever want to help the skullkin? Humans and skullkin have always been at war with each other. Maybe this man just didn't pay attention to the outside world very much? The only thing he could do is let this man continue his work. Of course, they had absolutely no idea where he goes when he leaves the Maelstrom Quarry every night. It was time that they found out who this man was. Nuckal ordered a team of armed skeleton soldiers to pass through the mountains in the night to follow the man. The cold night time air chilled the man as he easily walked through Aura Mar without injury. Was this man completely INSANE? Aura Mar is possibly the deadliest location in all of Crux Prime, aside from Caldera Mar. The skeletons had to split up to cover more ground and keep the man from seeing them. A few of them got lost in the blazing trenches of Caldera Mar. One of them was mistakenly smashed by Aura Mar's Maelstrom Dragon. There were three skeletons left to pursue the strange human. He strode over to the launchpad at Sentinel Point Zeta, and flew away in a Morbid Orbit modular rocket ship. How were the skullkin supposed to follow him now? Of course, Nuckal was furious of his soldier's failure. Two of the skeletons that returned to him were completely scorched. These were clearly the only ones that survived Caldera Mar. The other three made it back safely. "Your failure is unacceptable," roared Nuckal to the Skullkin, "so you must therefore be punished." With a single swing of his bone ax, he smashed all five of the skeletons. But the question still remained: Who is the skull mask man? Category:Stories Category:Incomplete Pages Category:Kryiptuun